Tech Nation has launched a new growth programme, Libra, for black and multiracial entrepreneurs, after selecting the initial 30 companies. 

Libra comprises companies with black or multiracial with black heritage founders from all areas of the UK.

Almost half (43%) of the 30 companies are led by female founders, reflecting Tech Nation’s commitment to ‘supporting underrepresented innovators that have an ambition to scale’.

Among the starting 30 companies, two are based in Scotland. Glasgow’s Legal-Pythia uses an explainable AI and web-based software to organise, categorise and search through legal information (especially legal evidence) to find duplications and contradictions. 

Meanwhile, Trapar, based in Edinburgh, connects customers to quality local transport operators. It gathers comprehensive requirements and shares these with vetted operators. 

In 2020, Tech Nation partnered with Extend VC and Impact X to create the Diversity Beyond Gender report. It found that between 2009 and 2019, 76% of VC investment went to all-white founding teams, whilst only 23.36% went to multiracial founding teams and 0.24% went to all-Black founding teams.

This shows how black and multiracial founders often face barriers to accessing VC investment, which can be directly linked to racial bias. This adds more challenges to overcome in their scaling journey. 

Tech Nation’s Libra Lead Abi Mohamed commented: “At Tech Nation, we are working to build a future where anyone with a vision and drive can access the skills and support needed to scale and succeed as a game-changing leader. 

“We have furthered our commitment to this by launching our first programme designed to tackle some of the unique challenges faced by Black and multiracial founders in the UK.

“The 30 scaleups joining the Libra programme represent some of the most exciting, innovative, and resilient tech companies in the UK today, and are tackling some of our biggest challenges. 

“Spread right across the UK, companies are working in global health, providing access to electric vehicles, and helping businesses move towards circular business models.

“By helping to support our future Libra alumni to reach unicorn status and beyond, we hope to play our part in strengthening the UK’s position as one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business – for everyone.”

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Over six months, the founders accepted into the programme will each receive over 60 hours of support and benefit from sessions delivered by established entrepreneurs.

They will also receive mentoring from world-leading scale coaches and peer-to-peer sessions on fundamental growth challenges; covering topics such as raising series A, selling into corporates, scaling your operations and expanding internationally.

The programme will facilitate peer-to-peer learning and the cohort companies sharing the challenges in their own individual scaling journeys.

The cohort will also be introduced to key stakeholders and decision-makers at corporates, investment firms, government bodies and others during networking events. 

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “It’s great to see Tech Nation’s new Libra programme supporting founders from a range of backgrounds and tapping into the rich depth of tech talent we have across the country. 

“We are doing all we can to make sure people have the skills they need to work in this exciting and challenging industry.”